UAW President Bob King at the UAW headquarters in Detroit on Nov. 26. / Jessica J. Trevino/Detroit Free Press

Written by

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

The UAW is likely to face opposition from its members to its first dues increase since 1967 that would jump from two hours’ pay per month to 2.5 hours.

The union is considering a dues increase that could range from a quarter hour to a full hour, but the most likely increase would be a half-hour, according to two people briefed on the topic but not authorized to talk publicly.

Union leaders may ask members to approve the increase at next June’s UAW Constitutional Convention.

Currently, UAW members pay monthly dues equal to two hours of pay or, for salaried workers, 1.15% of their monthly salary. For veteran Detroit Three autoworkers making an average of about $28 per hour, that would mean that they are paying about $56 per month now and could pay $70 per month if the increase is passed.

The union’s last dues increase was approved by members at the UAW’s 1967 Constitutional Convention when Walter Reuther was president.

A dues increase is especially sensitive for the UAW now because Michigan has become a right-to-work state and members will have a chance to drop out of the union for the first time in 2015 after the next round of contract talks with the Detroit Three.

“I will lead the march to sign my withdrawal card if they raise my dues one penny,” said Bill Bagwell, 56, a union worker at General Motors’ processing center in Ypsilanti.

The proposal also comes as the UAW is trying to convince workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., to vote in favor of joining the UAW. The union also has active organizing campaigns at Nissan plants in Tennessee and Mississippi and Mercedes-Benz’s plant in Alabama.

UAW spokeswoman Michele Martin declined to comment.

“The people against the UAW in Chattanooga will use this against them,” said Art Schwartz, a former GM labor negotiator who now heads his own consulting firm in Ann Arbor. “However, I suspect anyone who is willing to vote for the union at two hours worth of dues will vote for the union at 2.5 hours.”

(Page 2 of 2)

UAW Local 1112 in Lordstown, Ohio, talked about the possible dues increase at its meeting in November, according to a memo on its website.

“The topic is very complex and includes strategy, long-term goals, right-to-work issues and potential changes to the local union’s finances,” the memo said.

In a recent interview, UAW President Bob King declined to comment on the potential dues increase and said that the union has been carefully managing its finances even though it has engaged in aggressive organizing strategies over the last three years.

Some UAW insiders have been critical of King for excessive spending as he has traveled the globe in an attempt forge international relationships to support organizing drives in the South at plants operated by Volkswagen, Mercedes and Nissan.

While UAW membership has grown modestly in recent years as the auto industry has rebounded, it now has less than a third of the 1.5 million members at its peak in the late 1970s. More than half those members work outside the auto industry and many of them make less money, which translates into less dues revenue per member.

King told the Free Press last month that the UAW is not in fiscal trouble.

“We are blessed because even though it is incremental, we have been growing the membership,” King said. “We are in good shape. I think we are spending our money more wisely and more focused than maybe what we did in the past.”